Best Cardio For Legs And Glutes: What To Do And Avoid!

Best Cardio For Legs And Glutes: What To Do And Avoid!

It’s so hard to know which training methods will get you to your goals. There’s so many to choose from! Tabata, HIITs, Steady State, Wind gates…. power lifting! You may have a full-time job and knowing which training will be the best for your body and then training and dieting on top of it can be a job in itself.

Watch my Youtube video below to take some of the guess-work out of training! I am going to walk you through three of the WORST cardio options if trying to build your booty … and the best cardio for legs and glutes!

Which Cardio Exercises To Avoid (And Which To Do) For Building Your Bum!

Three Cardio Exercises To Avoid (If You Are Looking To Build Your Legs And Glutes!)

Jogging:

Sorry to let you know but running (specifically long distance running) is the absolute worst for keeping your bum bum! It is also one of the worst exercises for knees and can actually lead to joint damage! Jogging can be very harsh on joints (hips, knees, lower back) as it is a high impact activity. With that said, I am not saying to avoid it all together. Jogging is still an excellent stress reliever and can help you shrink your thighs so feel free to jog once in a while. However, if your goal is to grow your glutes, (or if you have knee problems) then avoid it!

Long duration cardio:

This is often referred to steady state cardio. It is essentially when you get on a cardio machine (like a treadmill or elliptical) and go for periods of 30 minutes or longer at a steady pace. Now during the cardio session you are definitely burning calories but the calorie and fat burning stop as soon as you step off the machine. Long duration cardio can again be a great stress reliever but can also burn away hard gained muscle!

Dance cardio:

…. do you remember the dancercise classes from the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s? Totally a lot of fun but the long duration, low intensity leads to muscle atrophy (aka shrinkage of your bum bum!) So again, if your goal is to keep your hard gained mass, avoid long duration cardio type exercises!

And The Best Cardio For Legs And Glutes Is…..

Running sprints:

This is by far my fave cardio exercise! It is muscle sparing and it can actually HELP build glutes… get on my snap chat (search for LyzabethLopez) to see how I structure my sprint drills!

Bike sprints:

Another one of my faves! perhaps not overly popular but extremely effective! What I love about bike sprints is that you can adjust both the intensity or strength of the bike AND your speed … and go HAM! Both bike and running sprints are much more effective for fat loss than steady state cardio (more on this on my cardio post here!)

Stair Runs:

For you, advanced girls, try strapping on a weighted vest and get to those stairs! I won’t lie this is an extremely challenging way of doing cardio… but again super effective at keeping those legs thick (in a good way) and for fat loss!